The Lions lost to the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football last weekend but any analysis about what happened during the game has been completely sidelined by the fight that occurred upon the final whistle.
After Patrick Mahomes took one final kneel-down to cement the win, Detroit safety Brian Branch took a cheap shot at Chiefs wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster. It caused quite the fracas and Smith-Schuster was bleeding as he headed to the locker room. Afterwards, Branch said he was retaliating after a cheap shot from the receiver during the game.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was not at all pleased with Branch's actions and ripped into the safety with a stern message during his postgame press conference. He adopted a different tone when speaking to media on the situation Tuesday.
Responding to the NFL's decision to suspend Branch one game for his actions, Campbell had a classy message for the 23-year-old, saying he had a "great heart" and will learn from his mistakes.
"I saw him yesterday before all this came down, he knows all this," Campbell said, via Ben Raven of MLive. "He'll learn from it. This was one instance of something that happens, it doesn't matter what led to it... you can't take out your aggression on somebody else. Can't cross that line.
"He's an outstanding young man. He's got a great heart."
Campbell previously called Branch's actions unacceptable but seems to believe that message got across. Branch has been penalized for his actions; his head coach appears to not feel it necessary to pile on after the fact.
Still, the Lions will miss Branch dearly next Monday night against the Buccaneers. The secondary is already very short-handed due to injury. He's appealing the suspension but it feels rather unlikely he'll be successful.
A tough blow for Detroit but Campbell believes Branch will learn from it, and that is all that matters now that the fight is in the past.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dan Campbell Had Classy Message for Brian Branch After Suspension for Chiefs Fight .
